FIFA World Cup: Serbia vs Brazil preview

Brazil still have work to do in order to qualify for the round of sixteen at the 2018 World Cup, they need to at least avoid defeat against Serbia when the two teams meet at Otkrytiye Arena in Moscow on Wednesday. The two teams have met just once before, the occasion was a friendly match that was played in 2014 as a warm-up for the previous World Cup, and Brazil won it 1-0 thanks to a goal from Fred. Serbia have missed the 2014 World Cup and in 2010 they failed to qualify from the group stage.

Serbia had a good start at the 2018 World Cup as they defeated Costa Rica 1-0 thanks to a great goal from Aleksandar Kolarov, but then things went quite wrong against Switzerland. Aleksandar Mitrovic had put Serbia ahead in the first half but then Switzerland reacted after the break and goals from Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri changed the result. Serbia can still qualify, but their only option is to beat Brazil in Wednesday's match. Head coach Mladen Krstajic will most likely field his usual starting eleven.

Brazil had a rather rough World Cup so far, they started with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland and then only managed to beat Costa Rica thanks to a pair of stoppage-time goals. That victory makes a huge difference for Brazil, now they only need a draw to make sure they qualify and they could even finish at the top of the group table if they beat Serbia and Switzerland don't beat Costa Rica by a bigger margin. Douglas Costa and Danilo are injured, they will most likely be replaced by Willian and Fagner.